Soolamangalam Jayalakshmi | |
---|---|
Birth name | Jayalakshmi |
Born | 24 April 1937 |
Origin | Soolamangalam, Madras presidency, British India |
Genres | Tamil devotional, tamil patriotic, film music |
Occupation(s) | Singer-songwriter, musician |
Soolamangalam Rajalakshmi | |
---|---|
Birth name | Rajalakshmi |
Born | 6 November 1940 |
Origin | Soolamangalam, Madras presidency, British India |
Died | 1 March 1992 Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. |
(aged 51)
Genres | Tamil devotional, tamil patriotic, film music |
Occupation(s) | Singer-songwriter, musician |
Soolamangalam Jayalakshmi (Tamil: சூலமங்கலம் ஜெயலட்சுமி) and Soolamangalam Rajalakshmi (Tamil: சூலமங்கலம் ராஜலட்சுமி), popularly known as Soolamangalam Sisters (Tamil: சூலமங்கலம் சகோதரிகள்) are Carnatic music sister-pair vocalists and musicians known for their devotional songs in Tamil. They were early singers in the trend of duo singing in Carnatic music, which started in the 1950s, with performers like Radha Jayalakshmi, and later continued by Bombay Sisters, Ranjani-Gayatri, Mambalam Sisters, Bangalore Sisters and Priya Sisters
Born in Soolamangalam near Tanjore – a village with musical heritage, of Karnam Ramaswmai Ayyar & Janaki Ammal, the sisters had their training in music from K. G. Murthi of Soolamangalam, Pathamadai S.Krishnan, Mayavaram Venugopalayyar.
The duo-sisters were very popular for their matchless rendition of National and Devotional songs. They had a hectic practice for about three decades and were much sought after for providing background music in films. Their Kanda Shasti Kavasam album is very popular with the Lord Muruga devotees.
Among the two of them, Jayalakshmi had rendered only a few songs in films and most of it would be duets with Rajalakshmi.
Whereas Rajalakshmi had more chance as a playback singer in films. Her voice suits all the categories of youthful, soft mellifluousness, evocative feelings, perfection of pronunciation and the best in devotional songs.
Many of her songs are under K. V. Mahadevan's music direction all the while. Many of her songs were under T. G. Lingappa. She also sang under G. Ramanathan, Naushad, Letchumanan Kurunath, K. N. Dandayudhapani Pillai, Viswanathan-Ramamoorthy, S. Rajeswara Rao, H. R. Padmanabha Sasthri, C. N. Pandurangan, G. K. Venkatesh, T. A. Kalyanam, V. Kumar, T. R. Pappa, M. S. Srikanth, Kunnakkudi Vaidyanathan, S. M. Subbaiah Naidu, S. Dakshinamurthy, Chittor V. Nagaiah, M. K. Athmanathan, M. S. Viswanathan, T. K. Ramamoorthy, Shankar-Ganesh, Kunnakkudi Vaidyanathan, Rajan-Nagendra, Brother Lakshmanan, V. Dakshinamurthy, P. S. Divakar, Pukazhenthi and under her own music compositions. She sang more often in the 1950s while during the 1960s, she was only sought in songs that needed more than one female voice.